Brenda Irwin is the founder and general partner of Relentless Venture Fund, a Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada based early-stage fund investing in preventative health and proactive technology solutions. Irwin’s fund was one of the ten female founded venture capital funds I highlighted in an earlier post. In the earlier post Irwin offered up three network building solutions that she regularly puts to use:

Leverage the connecting potential of your phone by taking pictures at events and sharing them.

Readers of that prior post didn't know that these tips were just a tiny glimmer of the network building activities Irwin is pursuing to grow her fund (primarily with investors, but also for deal flow). Irwin's focus is intentional and experience based: she has no intention on filling her calendar with endless coffee dates or wasting her time by hitting send blindly on emails with pitch decks attached. Rather, Irwin relies on activities that are also building the “active living” brand Relentless Venture Fund is becoming recognized for; activities that are also providing potential investors with unique opportunities to really learn more about the people behind the fund.

In greater detail, here two ways Irwin is aligning her personal interests with the unique talents and focus of the fund to expand her network:

Relentless Craft Brewery Tours by Bike

“It’s not your typical venture pitch. Having a memorable experience facilitates authentic conversation (whether it is during the ‘beer tasting’ segment or riding side by side along trails) about Relentless Venture Fund and our portfolio objectives.” - Brenda Irwin, founder and general partner of Relentless Venture Fund

Irwin’s co-founder, Simon Whitfield is a champion triathlete, so she decided they needed to leverage the allure of biking with a four-time Olympian into their investor engagement strategy. Irwin launched a series of casual bike rides featuring formal tours to local craft beer businesses. Typically, these events attract 10-12 participants (prospective and current investors together with community builders and executives from her investment portfolio) and when possible she aligns the tours with conference she and Whitfield are attending. To stay focused on the relationships rather than the minutiae of event planning, Irwin partners with a local bike tour operator for each tour.

Relentless Craft Brewery Tour By BikeRelentless Venture Fund

These events Irwin tells me have more impact than the dozen or so people in the room: word and reputation spreads so now she has prospective investors asking “to be on the invitation list” for the next bike tour and those already on the invitation list are bringing along friends who qualify as potential investors. Plus there is nothing like biking in the rain or a freak snow storm to imprint memories and foster new relationships, Irwin adds.

Relentless Craft Brewery Tours By BikeRelentless Venture Fund

Relentless Salons

Intent on bringing back the 17th and 18th century salons that fostered education and conversation for women, as well as the opportunity to discuss and exchange transformative ideas, Irwin launched a series of “By Invitation Only” Salons in Vancouver and Toronto. She peppers her guest list with limited partner prospects, and entrepreneurs and executives Irwin invested in previously, then extends invitations to former co-investors, fellow directors from various boards, and executive directors of key technology associations.

Yes, Irwin ensures the venues for the salon are aligned with the ‘active living’ brand she is cultivating for her fund:

She has held a couple of salons at Musette Caffe, a Vancouver coffee shop catering to cyclists. Participants for this event were encouraged to bike to the event and several three arrived in their biking gear.

Another event was held at Fix Bikes in Toronto, a combination stylized coffee shop catering to cyclists with a bike repair shop in the back.

It’s not all cycling and cool, hipster locations: Irwin also held a salon at the prestigious Royal Vancouver Yacht Club as an analyst on the fund’s team is a member of Canada’s national sailing team.

As with the ‘Relentless Craft Brewery Tours by Bike’, Irwin is leveraging network effects (she encourages guests to bring a date who may be interested in learning about what they are creating with the Relentless Venture Fund) and having unexpected word-of- mouth success (she receives more requests for invites than the event was designed to handle). The challenge Irwin tells me is to maintain a targeted guest list (vetting and ensuring they were either accredited investors or individuals who could and will make introductions to institutional investors). While the tours by bike may be a self-selecting crowd (those who like craft beer and cycling), the key for salon-type events she says is to remain highly disciplined about the mix of people in the room.